Examining ships that have made an impact on Naval Warfare and Naval History.

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Hello out there! The purpose of this blog is to spread the word that Naval History is interesting and worth knowing. After searching the net, I couldn't find a single place that dealt solely with the subject of Naval Warfare, so I decided to create one. I will be posting pictures and text of various ships and will then describe what part those ships played in Naval Warfare and Naval History. For anyone interested in these subjects, I hope this will be your new home. Every Tuesday a new ship will be posted and each month I'll have a "Ship of the Month" displayed at the bottom of the blog. Both famous and not-so-famous ships will be highlighted. But what they all have in common is that, in some small way, they made an impact on Naval Warfare and Naval History. I think it's a historical lesson worth reading. I also hope you like what you see and I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks for dropping by.

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This blog was created by Remo. I have been forced to close my "Comments" section due to the enormous amount of spam that is being sent to it. I just can't keep up with it anymore, so I decided to end the comments. People who flood blogs with spam are jerks and should be ashamed of themselves. Anyway, if you want to contact me, e-mail me at Libertyship46@aol.com. On balance, I get less spam via my e-mail account than in the "Comments" section of the blog. So if you want to make a comment, send me an e-mail. Other readers on the blog will not be able to see it, but at least I'll have some contact with the outside world! Thank you.

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Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Figure 1:USS Hawkins (DDR-873) alongside the newly-completed USS Independence
(CVA-62) during replenishment exercises, May 1959. Official US Navy
Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on
photograph for larger image.

Figure 2:USS Hawkins (DDR-873) plowing through heavy seas, circa 1960. The original
photograph bears the rubber stamped date 15 June 1960. Official US Navy
Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on
photograph for larger image.

Figure 3:USS Hawkins (DDR-873) underway at sea, 30 October 1962. Photographed by Clements,
of USS Enterprise (CVAN-65). Official US Navy Photograph, from the
collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger
image.

Figure 4:USS Hawkins (DD-873) steams alongside USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) during
refueling operations in the South China Sea, 19 February 1966. Taken by PH2
W.R. Mosier, USN. Official US Navy Photograph. Click on photograph for
larger image.

Figure 5: USS Hawkins (DD-873) underway on
30 May 1965. Photographed by PH3 Henry Craig Hensel. Official US Navy
Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on
photograph for larger image.

Figure 6:USS Hawkins (DD-873) steaming toward Norfolk, Virginia, for a visit by the Standing
Naval Force Atlantic, 6 July 1970. Photographed by PHC B.M. Anderson. Official
US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click
on photograph for larger image.

Named after
US Marine Corps Medal of Honor winner William Deane Hawkins (1914-1943), the
2,425-ton USS Hawkins (DD-873) was a Gearing class destroyer that was built
by the Consolidated Steel Company at Orange, Texas, and commissioned on 10
February 1945. The ship was approximately 390 feet long and 41 feet wide, had a
top speed of 35 knots, and had a crew of 367 officers and men. Hawkins was armed with six 5-inch guns, 12
40-mm guns, 10 20-mm guns, 5 21-inch torpedo tubes, and depth charges.

Hawkins was converted into a radar picket
ship before steaming to the Pacific in June 1945 to begin combat operations.
But Japan surrendered before she reached the war zone, so Hawkins spent the rest of the year, as well as the first few months
of 1946, in peacetime service in the western and central Pacific. After briefly
returning to the United States and based at San Diego, California, in October
1947, Hawkins was again deployed to
the Far East from 1948 to 1949. The destroyer steamed back to San Diego and was
re-designated DDR-873 in mid-March 1949. Hawkins
was then transferred to the Atlantic Fleet.

Hawkins made her first regular deployment to
the Mediterranean Sea in mid-1950. But the ship was sent to the Pacific in
early 1951 to participate in the Korean War. While
serving four months off the coast of
Korea, Hawkinsscreened the mobile carrier forces during strikes on enemy positions and supply lines, provided antisubmarine protection, and
controlled jet aircraft during combat
air patrols. She also acted as plane
guard during operations in the Formosa Straits, which were designed to
discourage Communist aggression against the island
of Formosa (later Taiwan). Departing the Far East in June 1951, the destroyer returned to the east coast of the United
States via the Mediterranean.

After serving in the Korean War, Hawkins
spent the bulk of the rest of her career in the Atlantic and the
Mediterranean. She completed a total of sixteen cruises with the US Sixth Fleet
in the Mediterranean and was present there during the 1956 Suez Crisis. From
1961 to 1963, Hawkins supported space
flight operations, took part in the Cuban Missile Crisis, and assisted with the
testing of the submarine-launched “Polaris” ballistic missile.

Hawkins was extensively
overhauled and modernized in 1964 and was re-designated DD-873. She completed
the Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM I) program and
received a new superstructure, an antisubmarine rocket (ASROC) launcher, and
facilities for operating drone helicopters. In September 1965, Hawkins returned to the western Pacific
for her fifth (and final) cruise in those waters. The ship steamed back to
America’s east coast in April 1966. Two Sixth Fleet deployments followed from
1966 to 1967 and in 1968. In 1969 and 1971, Hawkins
supported the Apollo space missions. In 1970, she operated with the Standing
Naval Force Atlantic in northern European waters. Three more Mediterranean
cruises followed from 1972 to 1973, from 1975 to 1976, and in 1977. The only
break in this routine came in 1974, when the ship completed a long voyage
around the Cape of Good Hope for operations in the Indian Ocean and the Persian
Gulf.

In December 1977, Hawkins was
used for Naval Reserve training at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. That mission
lasted until the beginning of October 1979, when the destroyer was
decommissioned, stricken from the Naval Vessel Register, and placed in the
“mothball fleet” at Philadelphia. But Hawkins
still had plenty of life left in her. Hawkins
was sold to Taiwan in March 1983 and was re-named Tsu Yang. She remained in service with the Taiwanese Navy until
1998, when the ship was scrapped, ending a career that lasted almost 53 years.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Figure 1:USS Suisun (AVP-53) off Houghton, Washington, on 17
September 1944, a few days after commissioning. She was the first of her class
completed with the late war standard main armament of one 5-inch gun and one
quadruple 40-mm mount, both forward. Her camouflage scheme is Measure 32 Design
2Ax. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National
Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2:USS Suisun (AVP-53) off Houghton, Washington, on 17 September 1944,
a few days after commissioning. She was the first of her class completed with
the late war standard main armament of one 5-inch gun and one quadruple 40-mm
mount, both forward. Her camouflage scheme is Measure 32 Design 2Ax. Photograph
from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on
photograph for larger image.

Figure 3:USS Suisun (AVP-53) off Houghton, Washington, on 17 September 1944,
a few days after commissioning. She was the first of her class completed with
the late war standard main armament of one 5-inch gun and one quadruple 40-mm
mount, both forward. Her camouflage scheme is Measure 32 Design 2Ax. Photograph
from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on
photograph for larger image.

Figure 4:USS Suisun (AVP-53) off the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Washington, on 5
October 1944. She was the first of her class completed with the late war standard
main armament of one 5-inch gun and one quadruple 40-mm mount, both forward.
Her camouflage scheme is Measure 32 Design 2Ax. Photograph from the Bureau
of Ships Collection in the US National Archives.Click on photograph
for larger image.

Figure 5:USS Suisun (AVP-53) off the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Washington, on 5
October 1944. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National
Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6:USS Suisun
(AVP-53) off the Puget
Sound Navy Yard, Washington, on 5 October 1944. Photograph from the Bureau
of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger
image.

Figure 7:USS Suisun (AVP-53) passing a line to USS Castle Rock
(AVP-35), off Javapog, Saipan, in April 1945. Photographed by Ensign Thomas
Binford, USNR, from one of Castle Rock's 40-mm gun tubs. Note Suisun's
Measure 32 Design 2Ax camouflage. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the
collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8:USS Suisun
(AVP-53) at New York on
17 August 1946. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1969. US Naval Historical
Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 9:USS Suisun
(AVP-53) underway in a
photograph dated 1952. The quadruple 40-mm gun mount on her fantail was added
in around 1948. Note the small aviation insignia just forward of her small bow
number. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval
Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after a bay on the coast of California, the 2,592-ton USS Suisun
(AVP-53) was a Barnegat class small seaplane tender that was built by
the Lake Washington Shipyard at Houghton, Washington, and was commissioned on
13 September 1944. The ship was approximately 310 feet long and 41 feet wide,
had a top speed of 18 knots, and had a crew of 367 officers and men. Suisun
was armed with one 5-inch gun, eight 40-mm guns, and six 20-mm guns.

After completing her shakedown cruise off the coast of San Diego,
California, on 21 November 1944, Suisun sailed for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii,
on 7 December. After arriving at Pearl Harbor on 14 December, Suisun
left for Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands four days later. From January to
April 1945, Suisun tended to various seaplane squadrons in the Caroline
and Marianas Islands. The ship steamed to Kerama Retto in the Ryukyu Islands
with the Okinawa invasion force in April and remained there until the end of
the war except for one trip to Saipan for supplies. Suisun was the
eighth ship to enter Tokyo Bay in August 1945 and remained there until leaving
for the United States in November 1945.

Assigned to the postwar Atlantic Fleet, Suisun arrived at
Norfolk, Virginia, in January 1946 and, after completing an overhaul, patrolled
along the east coast of the United States and in the Caribbean. In October
1946, Suisun’s home port was shifted to Coco Solo in the Panama Canal
Zone. The ship returned to the Pacific in April 1947 and began a series of
deployments throughout the Pacific basin, including China, Japan, the central
Pacific islands, Alaska, and Mexico. During several of these deployments, Suisun
also supported seaplanes from Whidbey Island, Washington.

From July to October 1950, during the early months of the Korean War, Suisun
tended to seaplanes which operated in the vicinity of the Pescadores Islands
and monitored mainland Chinese military activity. Suisun was sent to the
Far East again from 12 February to 6 August 1951 and from 26 November 1951 to
25 May 1952. Suisun was deployed to the western Pacific for three more
tours of duty after that.

On 2 March 1955, Suisun was assigned to the Pacific Reserve
Fleet. The ship was in commission but placed in reserve on 10 May and then
decommissioned and in reserve on 5 August 1955. USS Suisun was struck
from the Navy list on 1 April 1966 and was sunk as a target in October of that
year. Suisun received two battle stars for her service during World War
II and two battle stars for her service during the Korean War.

Small but well-armed tenders like Suisun not only maintained and
assisted seaplanes around the world, but they made excellent patrol boats as
well. Suisun’s extensive deployment throughout the Pacific over many
years is ample evidence of how effective and useful these unique ships were.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Figure 1:USS Shangri-La (CV-38) is christened by Mrs. James H.
Doolittle, during launching ceremonies at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Norfolk,
Virginia, 24 February 1944. Colonel James Doolittle commanded the famous B-25
raid on Tokyo on 18 April 1942, which was flown from the deck of the aircraft
carrier USS Hornet (CV-8). After the
raid when President Franklin Roosevelt was asked where the American planes had
come from, he replied, “Shangri-La.” Rear Admiral Felix X. Gygax, the Navy Yard
commandant, is in the foreground holding a microphone close to the sponsor's
champagne bottle as it smashes into the new carrier's bow. Courtesy of James
Russell. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for
larger image.

Figure 3:USS Shangri-La (CV-38) underway in the Pacific with her crew paraded
on the flight deck, 17 August 1946. Note use of the letter "Z" on the
flight deck instead of her hull number (38). Official US Navy Photograph,
now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger
image.

Figure 4:USS Shangri-La
(CVA-38) in the mid-1950s
with Point Loma, California, in background. Courtesy
ofPete Kocourek . Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5:USS Shangri-La
(CVA-38) at sea,
launching F9F "Cougar" fighters, 10 January 1956. Note steam rising
from her port catapult. Photographed by B.W. Kortge. Official US Navy
Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on
photograph for larger image.

Figure 6:USS Shangri-La (CVA-38) underway at sea off Mayport, Florida, with
Carrier Air Group Ten (CAG-10) embarked, August 1960. Aircraft parked on the
forward flight deck include F8U and F4D fighters, A4D and AD attack planes. Photographed
by PH1 R.A. Moulder. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the
Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure
7:USS Shangri-La (CVA-38) in the Mediterranean Sea on her fourth
Mediterranean cruise and ninth overseas deployment, February 15 to September
20, 1965. The Air Wing embarked was CVW-10, tail code "AK." Official US Navy photograph. Click on
photograph for larger image.

Figure 11:Lieutenant (Junior
Grade) William Belden ejects from his Douglas A-4E "Skyhawk" attack
aircraft (Bureau No. 150117) as it rolls into USS Shangri-La's port catwalk after suffering a brake failure following
recovery, 2 July 1970. Belden ejected safely and was rescued by Shangri-La's
helicopter. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval
Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 12: USS Shangri-La (CVS-38)during her last
voyage to New Zealand, November 1970. Official US Navy photograph. Click on
photograph for larger image.

Named after
the fictitious Himalayan kingdom described by author James Hilton in his novel Lost Horizon, the 27,100-ton USS Shangri-La (CV-38) was a Ticonderoga class aircraft carrier built
by the Norfolk Navy Yard at Portsmouth, Virginia, and was commissioned on 15 January
1943. Colonel James Doolittle led the famous B-25 raid on Tokyo on 18 April
1942, which was flown from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8). After the raid when
President Franklin Roosevelt was asked by reporters where the American planes
had come from, he replied, “Shangri-La.” This name actually honors Hornet, which launched the Tokyo raiders
and which was subsequently lost in the Battle of Santa Cruz Island on 27
October 1942. The carrier Shangri-La
was approximately 888 feet long and 93 feet wide, had a top speed of 32 knots,
and had a crew of 3,448 officers and men. The ship was heavily armed with 12
5-inch guns, 44 40-mm guns, and 60 20-mm guns, and could carry roughly 80
aircraft, depending on the type and size of the planes.

After
completing her shakedown cruise in the Caribbean, Shangri-La steamed to the Pacific in early 1945 to join the war
against Japan. On 24 April, the ship joined Task Group 58.4 and the next day
her aircraft launched their first strike against the Japanese. The target was
Okino Daito Jima, a group of islands several hundred miles southeast of
Okinawa. Shangri-La’s planes
successfully destroyed radar and radio installations there and upon their
recovery the task group sailed for Okinawa. Once there, Shangri-La provided combat air patrols for the task group and close
air support for Army troops on Okinawa.

For the next
four months, Shangri-La’s aircraft
attacked the Japanese home islands. During much of that time, she served as
flagship to Task Forces 38 and 58. On 2 and 3 June 1945, Shangri-La’s task force launched air strikes against Kyushu, the
southernmost of the major Japanese Islands. On 14 and 15 July, the carrier’s
planes pounded the Japanese home islands of Honshu and Hokkaido and, on 18
July, they attacked Tokyo, bombing the battleship Nagato that was anchored nearby. On 24 July, the ship’s aircraft
attacked enemy shipping near Kure, Japan, and on 28 July attacked and damaged
the cruiser Oyoda and the battleship Haruna, the latter so badly that she had
to be beached to prevent her from sinking in deep water. Shangri-La’s planes attacked Tokyo once again on 30 July, causing
much damage.

On 9 August
1945, Shangri-La sent her planes to
bomb Honshu and Hokkaido once again. The next day, they raided Tokyo and
central Honshu. After steaming away from the Japanese coastline on 11 and 12
August to avoid a typhoon, Shangri-La’s
aircraft hit Tokyo again on 13 August. Two days later, her planes returned and
struck airfields around Tokyo. Soon after that raid, Japan announced its
surrender and the American fleet was ordered to cease hostilities. From 23
August to16 September, Shangri-La’s
aircraft flew missions of mercy, air-dropping supplies to Allied prisoners of
war in Japan.

After Japan’s
surrender, Shangri-La remained in the
western Pacific until October 1945. The carrier was active in 1946 and into
1947, participating in the Operation “Crossroads” atomic bomb tests and
completing a cruise to Australia. The ship was decommissioned and placed in the
Reserve Fleet at San Francisco, California, on 7 November 1947.

Shangri-La was re-commissioned on 10 May 1951
and served with the Atlantic Fleet until 14 November 1952, when she was
decommissioned once again, but this time to be fully modernized and overhauled.
The ship was sent to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Washington, and over the
next two years Shangri-La was
transformed into a modern carrier. At a cost of approximately $7 million (a
large sum in those days), Shangri-La
was given an angled flight deck,a fully
enclosed bow, a new and enlarged island, and twin steam catapults; her aircraft
elevators and arresting gear were overhauled; and new electronic equipment was
installed. All of these changes greatly altered the appearance of the ship and Shangri-La was re-classified CVA-38. The
ship was commissioned for the third time on 10 January 1955 and spent the next
five years in the Pacific, making several cruises with the US Seventh Fleet in
the Far East.

Shangri-La was transferred to the Atlantic in
March 1960 and began a series of deployments to the Mediterranean Sea early in
the next year, alternating with US Second Fleet service closer to the United
States. Shangri-La was re-classified
CVS-38 in June 1969, in preparation for her new role as an anti-submarine
warfare carrier. But she continued to carry an attack air group for her final
overseas deployment. During this voyage (which began in March 1970), Shangri-La steamed across the south
Atlantic, into the Indian Ocean, and went on to participate in combat
operations in the South China Sea near Vietnam. For seven months, Shangri-La launched combat sorties from
Yankee Station off the coast of Vietnam. The carrier returned to the east coast
of the United States in December 1970 and was decommissioned for the last time
on 30 July 1971. Shangri-La was
placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but was
stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in July 1982 and was sold for scrapping
in August 1988. The ship was part of the fleet for 44 years and received two
battle stars for her service in World War II and three battle stars for her
service in the Vietnam War.

Ship of the Month: USS Wandank

The 795-ton USS Wandank (AT-26) was an Algorma class fleet tug that was built by the Ferguson Steel and Iron Company at Buffalo, New York, and was commissioned on 23 March 1920. The ship was approximately 156 feet long and 30 feet wide, had a top speed of 13 knots, and had a crew of 25 officers and men. For roughly 20 years after being commissioned, Wandank worked along America’s east coast, primarily near her base at Norfolk, Virginia. In 1939, she assisted with the rescue and salvage efforts for the submarine USS Squalus (SS-192), which had accidently sunk off Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Wandank then was based at Boston, Massachusetts, in October 1940 and remained there throughout World War II. Her designation was changed to ATO-26 in May of 1944. Wandank was decommissioned in September 1946 and in July 1947 was sold to a commercial firm in New Orleans, Louisiana, which operated her under the name of W.A. Bisso. The tug was scrapped in 1971 after being in service for 51 years. The photograph shows USS Wandank at Boston circa the later 1920s or early 1930s. USS Constitution is on the opposite side of the pier. US Naval Historical Center Photograph.